The Dominion. SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1912. INDIA AND THE EMPIRE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1443, 18 May 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1912. INDIA AND THE EMPIRE.

The King-Emperor's presence in the country, the stately ceremonies at Delhi, and the reforms set forth in the Speech from the Throne havo been followed by a period of welcome calm in India. Kino George's visit to the great Dependency in the East to notify his assumption of sovereignty may probably mark the opening of a new era for the British Empire. Lord Curzon at Calcutta in 1903 described the Coronation Durbar of that year as "a landmark in the history of tho people and a chapter in the ritual of the State," saying that it was meant "to remind all tho provinces and peoples of the Asiatic Empire of the British Crown that they had passed under the Dominion of a new Sovereign."' Lord Curzon's words, imposing though they be, fail to apply with precision to the ever-widening conceptions of Empire held at the present time. If trie 1003 Durbar was a landmark in the history of the peqplo of India, that of 1911 seems destined to bo a landmark in the history of the British Empiro. While tho recent ceremonies at Delhi were of direct interest to the people of India, they were charged with meaning of profound importance, not only to Great Britain, but also to every portion of tho oversea Dominions. The long journey of the King, in the personal .discharge of his Imperial functions, spoke of the oneness and the solidarity of the British Empire, but, abovo all else, it was a declaration that British rule is to remain paramount and unimpaired throughout the' length and breadth of India. Both in Great Britain and in tho oversea Dominions tho sense of India's value to the Empire seems on occasions to be somewhat obscured. Indeed, the question is sometimes heard : What would Great Britain lose were the English to evacuate India to-morrow? India's mutually antagonistic, polyglot millions are too frequently overlooked, and the fact that, did Great Britain withdraw, after a season of internecine warfare, the country would pass into the possession of nnothei of the great Powers. Mr. Valentine Ciurol, in his new and notable volume on India, Dolnta out th/i truo

position within the Empire. "The cime," he states, "has passed when the maintenance of British power in ludia should lie regarded as an interest of Great Britain alone. India Btands right across the greatest highway in the world: it is the centre of the East. Through its possession we secured our great predominance in Eastern trade, and from its shores are extended our interests to Australasia, the Malay Peninsula, the Pacific Islands, and the China coast. The Power which holds India must of necessity command the sea. Supreme sea-power would be as diflictilt to maintain \ without control of India as control of India without sea-power." The writer proceeds to demonstrate that "in a

special and peculiar sense" India is the centre of Imperial defence, and that, were it lost to Great Britain, the security of theso great Dominions—South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand—would inevitably be threatened by the Power which took the place of Great Britain. India's military forces and military stores are available for any part of the Empire, more especially for the benefit of tho three Dominions named. Early in the South African war, it will be remembered, numerous regiments were dispatched from India for the scene of the conflict, and during the Boxer rebellion 20,000 native troops and 17,000 native followers sailed promptly from India for China. Mn. Lionel Eraser, in his excellent book, India Under Cursnn and After, states that India supplied for these two wars: 21,000,000 rounds of ammunition and' 114,000 projectiles and shells, 11,000 tents, 11,000 sets of saddlery, 318,000 helmets 169,000 blankets, 290,000 pairs of boots, 42,000 tons of fodder and rations, 940,000 garments, 11,600 horses, 6700 mules, and 2700 bullocks. End British sway in India and from the strategic and military prints of view, not the British Empire alone would suffer change: a swift transformation would bo visible throughout the entire civilised world.

Indian unrest is a, subject whereon it- is invariably most difficult to obtain accurate information. Lord Cromer experienced this obstacle to the full in Egypt, where the political situation in some of its aspects is not unlike that found in certain Indian provinces. He points out in his book Modern Egypt that it is imperative to get a correct idea of cause and effect of any special political incident, He lays great stress on tho evils of inaccuracy, agreeing with Sir Arthur Helps that "half the evils of the world come from inaccuracy." Any careful and unprejudiccd_ reader, devoting time to the writings of men who rank as authorities on India, say, S. N. Singh and Sir J. D. Bees—to quote two names occupying promine'nt places in recent reviews and other publications—will be amazed at the extraordinary diversity of opinion they express. Thus, even on the question of education, the Indian and the Englishman seem to be hopelessly at variance. The Indian writes confidently of "the educated community in India," being the leaders of their "unenlightened countrymen," and that "every East-Indian capable of reading current literature is more or less an animated being." Sir J. D. Rees is clearly impatient with tho claims of Indians whose education has been ■but scanty and superficial. In a recent Fortnightly Review he writes: "Lord Gurzqn has never received sufficient credit for the courageous stand he made against, the manufacture of half-baked graduates and B.A.'s, and any future- Viceroy must know, as, no doubt he did, that it is only by facing a storm of abuse from highly vocal and unscrupulous quarters that he can properly accomplish the most urgent duty ho is called upon to perform." As to the origin of the discontent many causes have been cited. There is little doubt, however, that to the so-called educated classes much of the present discontent is due. The Indian problem is vastly complicated. Its solution promises to be reached in time only bv the firmness and wisdom of the British raj.